Jazz head at Kennedy Center is the latest firing at the beleaguered arts institution
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has fired another staffer: Kevin Struthers, a senior director of music programming who had been at the D.C. arts institution for 30 years. Struthers confirmed his termination to NPR on Thursday.
His dismissal is the latest upset in a line of firings and resignations at the Kennedy Center since President Trump became its chair in February and appointed Richard Grennell its new president. The Kennedy Center and NPR co-present the annual concert A Jazz Piano Christmas.
Their firings were first reported by The Washington Post on Thursday.
Struthers had been the administrative director of the Kennedy Center’s jazz programming. Previously, the Kennedy Center had been celebrated for inviting a vibrant roster of established and emerging jazz artists. The only mainstage jazz performance still on the Kennedy Center’s schedule is anOctober performance by The Glenn Miller Orchestra, a group which began recording in 1939.
The Kennedy Center’s press office did not immediately reply to NPR’s request for comment on the dismissal and a query about the future of jazz and Millennium Stage programming. The former artistic director of the organization’s jazz programming, composer and pianist Jason Moran, departed in July after joining the Kennedy Center in 2011.
Jennifer Vanasco edited this story.
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